Schutzstaffel

Schutzstaffel (SS)
The double-Sig Rune SS flag
Founded	November 9, 1925
In	Germany
Years active	1925-1945
Territory	Nazi Germany
Ethnicity	German
Criminal activities	Killed millions of people during The Holocaust

The Schutzstaffel, Elite Guard or Protection Squadron ( Schutzstaffel  (help·info) better known as the SS was a large security and military organization controlled by the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party) in Germany. "SS" was sometimes written in Runic as , and this symbol was put on the SS flag and insignia. It was formed in 1925 in Weimar Germany or better known as the Weimar Republic . In 1934 the SS became powerful after the execution of the head of the Sturmabteilung (SA) leader Ernst Röhm in Night of the Long Knives .

The SS played a major part in The Holocaust. For example, they ran the Nazi labour camps and death camps, where they killed millions of people. After World War II, judges at the Nuremberg Trials ruled that the SS was an illegal criminal organization. The judges also said that the SS was the organization that had done most of the Holocaust.